Shaw Festival 2023/ Brigadoon, book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe, original dances by Agnes DeMille, original choreography by Linda Garneau, directed by Glynis Leyshon, Festival Theatre until Dec. 23. Tickets here.
Just give me a good old-fashioned musical from Broadway’s classic era, and I’m a happy camper.
Such is Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon from 1947. Taking a leaf out of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s playbook — read Oklahoma (1943) and Carousel (1945) — Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe fashioned their first big hit. And the ingredients? A compelling love story with a serious edge. An infinite variety of hummable original songs. Eye-catching modern dance/ballet choreography. In other words, a musical play, as one critic noted, so what better way to spend time in the theatre? (Incidentally, Loewe’s unforgettable melodies are still running around my head.)
Shaw’s Brigadoon
Reviewing a Shaw musical in November is a bit strange, particularly because Brigadoon is certainly non-Christmasy. Since the festival decided to go year round, it has mounted both Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and either Holiday Inn or White Christmas during the holiday season. The departure this year is the festival’s 2019 production of Brigadoon, while next year, the Christmas musical will be My Fair Lady from the 2024 playbill. Needless to say, the annual A Christmas Carol is still playing at the Royal George.
The Shaw’s Brigadoon uses the revised book that Canadian-born man of theatre Brian Hill wrote for Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2014. The changes he made are subtle. The miracle of Brigadoon remains the same. The town’s minister Rev. Forsythe, in 1746, asked God for a miracle to save his beloved people from evil influences, which is why Brigadoon only appears every 100 years, experiencing just one day at a time.
In the original Lerner book, the evil was witchcraft and sorcery. In Hill’s adaptation, it’s the terrible punishing aftermath which the British inflicted on the Scots following the Battle of Culloden, and the uprising of Bonnie Prince Charlie. While Lerner, apparently, just wanted to create a post-war escape fantasy, Hill does bring in the fact that hero Tommy Albright has some form of PTSD after combat in WW2.
Story
And so to the story.
In 1946, American friends Tommy Albright (Stewart Adam McKensy) and Jeff Douglas (Kevin McLachlan) are in Scotland for the former’s bachelor hunting party, courtesy of his future father-in-law. When they get lost in the woods, they come across the mysterious village of Brigadoon that, needless to say, is not on the map.
In the village, Tommy develops a love interest with Fiona MacLaren (Alexis Gordon), whose sister Jean (Madelyn Kriese) is, that very day, marrying Charlie Dalrymple (David Andrew Reid), much to the devastation of Harry Beaton (Travis Seetoo), who is, in turn, loved by Maggie Anderson (Genny Sermonia). Comic relief is in the form of Meg Brockie (Kristi Frank), a lady with a past who falls for Jeff. Later, we also briefly meet Tommy’s elegant New York fiancée, Jane Ashton (Deborah Castrilli), when the men return to the States.
Brigadoon’s senior citizens include Andrew MacLaren, the father of Fiona and Jean, (Peter Millard), Archie Beaton (David Adams), Harry’s father, and Mistress Lundie (Claire Julien), the school teacher, (a woman in this production), who explains the miracle of Brigadoon, as well as performing the marriage ceremony. (Rev. Forsythe sacrificed himself for the miracle, by leaving the town he had saved.)
In retrospect, this is a very large cast of characters, but it all makes sense in the context of a village. Pam Johnson’s eye-catching set, with the misty highlands as a backdrop to an authentic-looking village street, is very evocative, gilded by Kevin Lamotte’s lighting and Corwin Ferguson’s projections. Needless to say, costume designer Sue LePage has managed to wrangle every possible tartan available in the Niagara region. The stage is festooned with them.
Final Thoughts
So what makes this production of Brigadoon so moving? For starters, director Glynis Leyshon has given us real people with real emotions. We see and hear the reality of Brigadoon. Then there are the personal stories. The moment when Harry Beaton tries to leave the village, which means Brigadoon will disappear forever, is absolutely knuckle-biting. When Jeff convinces Tommy to go back to New York, his despair is heartbreaking.
Just as the great Agnes DeMille did stupendous choreography for Oklahoma and Carousel, she also staged the famous dances for Brigadoon. Since DeMille is credited on the program, I’m assuming some of her original choreographic ideas have been incorporated into the Shaw production, with present day choreographer Linda Garneau adding her own original movement. At any rate, the dances in this production fly off the stage.
The traditional Scottish sword dance at the wedding is performed in sprightly fashion by Charlie/Reid, JJ Gerber and Graeme Kitagawa, while other village folk dances are charmingly rendered. The chase scene, however, when everyone is looking for Harry, is a tension-filled, brilliant showstopper, with its combination of movement and almost operatic chorus. Also very stirring is the solo of grief for Maggie at Harry’s funeral. As well, Jean and Charlie are given a lovely romantic duet together in the lyrical “Come To Me, Bend To Me”. In short, Brigadoon is a production that dances.
The cast can certainly sing and act. In fact, it is quite a talented bunch of artists. There are also a lot of the Shaw acting ensemble (rather than just the musical types) in this cast like Adams, Millard, Julien and others, so a sense of ensemble is strong.
Here I go again about diction. The women, namely the two leads in particular, Gordon and Frank, have good voices, but they chew their words and are indecipherable, which is most annoying, especially as Lerner gave the role of Meg some choice lyrics. The men, on the other hand, are loud and clear.
From the moment when Reid, as Charlie, bounds onto the stage, his charisma is absolutely stunning as both singer and dancer. He completely owns the stage when he’s on it. Similarly, McKensy as Tommy can belt out a song, and he absolutely touched hearts with a magnificent rendition of “There But For You Go I”. He does, however, have a very stiff body posture that makes him seem wooden in delivery. In the non-singing role of Jeff, MacLachlan practically steals the show with his comic relief.
And we must give a shout-out to music director Paul Sportelli, who once again has come up with a sparkling manifestation of Loewe’s beautiful score.
In other words, this Shaw Festival production of Brigadoon really got to me, musically, visually and emotionally. It is definitely worth the schlep to the Niagara-on-the-Lake, winter be damned.
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